Looking through the Lens of Nature

The quality of nature that is significant in early summer is spreading. We can see this quality in flowers as they bloom, the petals gently spreading wide. Tree branches will spread out a bit further and reach towards the sun. It is found in birds spreading their wings to fly. And it is found in you as an important quality of health – the spreading of nutrients to all parts of your body. It is the next step of the digestive process after extracting and transforming nutrients. It is an important and necessary process that is the embodiment of letting life unfold in its own time.

How does disease begin with fear, self-doubt, and guilt?

These emotions have origins in childhood. They create stories that lead to not trusting your own innate abilities, which stunts your growth, impairs your ability to mature, and prevents you from spreading your wings to let life take its natural course according to your true inner need.

You hold these emotions in your body more than in your conscious mind. It usually feels like pressure subtly held in the throat, chest, pit of your stomach. It is a sensation that is uncomfortable, which makes you panic and think that you need to do something to solve the problem.

I find it interesting that my fears, doubts, and guilt from my childhood show up in my parenting today. I see how I project these emotions on my own child through food and push her towards a path that I think is correct. It comes from being raised by a single working mom who hated being in the kitchen. Growing up with processed food is a trauma that I hold, as a story, about the impact it had on my health. Now my fear about my child experiencing health issues due to eating improperly creates pressure and stress around her eating habits, which is not fair to her. She is not the one with food issues, it is me.

These emotions create blocks to healing

Once you start to push, thinking that adding pressure will resolve the discomfort, you create a block. As you push yourself harder and harder to overcome the blocks created long ago, you create a knot of inflammation, emotion, and stagnation that becomes almost impossible to overcome.

Unfortunately, you cannot use force to untie knots. Knots of emotion, inflammation, and stagnation cannot be forced undone. Instead, the knot needs to soften and open in order to resolve. For example, instead of pushing meals on my child, I can soften this knot by letting her have her own food journey with the food I provide, in her own time, without the need for pressure or contriving.

What does nature teach you about healing?

It makes no sense to think of a flower having guilt over being pink instead of red, doubting its beauty, or being afraid to bloom. The flower just is. The lesson is in the fact that it matures and completes itself in the best possible way when allowed to take its time and natural course, just like us.

Looking at yourself through the lens of nature reveals lessons to be learned about your true nature, your best self, and your best life. When you move without pressure or force your inner need is revealed. As you back off a bit to let it all unfold, feel how the inner pressure of stagnation held in your throat, chest, or stomach can dissipate. The old knots soften, the stagnation finally moves, and you can release old stories and emotions that have stunted your growth. This is healing.

Can you let life unfold in its own time?

Contemplating fear, self-doubt, and guilt is a topic with many complexities that I find comes up frequently in my clinic. It can seem overwhelming, but sometimes all that is required for a shift to occur is to recognize the role these emotions are playing in your behavior. This develops your inner knowing of who you are that is central to healing.

Can you feel where you are pushing unnecessarily? Can you hear the story that is underneath the need to apply excess pressure? Can you let life unfold in its own time, like we observe in nature?

Perhaps you would like to share how this resonates with you in the comments below.